The 2021 Road Race Showcase at Road America was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The Race was held at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on August 8, 2021. The race was the eighth round of the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship and the fifth round of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
Background
International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in September 2020. It was the eighth consecutive year it was part of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. The 2021 Road Race Showcase at Road America was the eighth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2021 by IMSA, and it was the fifth round held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. The race was held at the fourteen-turn Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on August 8, 2021.
During this race weekend, IMSA holds their "State of the Series" annual press conference, in which they confirm and announce their future plans for the series they sanction.
On August 3, 2021, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event. In DPi, the Mazda RT24-P received a 10 kilogram weight increase. In GTD, the Lexus RC F GT3 received a 10 kilogram weight increase. The Aston Martin Vantage GT3 was given a 6.7 horsepower reduction. The Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo and BMW M6 GT3 were given fuel capacity reduction of 1 and 2 liters, respectively. No changes were made in GTLM.
Before the race, Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 2068 points, ahead of Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell in second with 1987 points, and Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr with 1954 points. In LMP2, Mikkel Jensen and Ben Keating led the Drivers' Championship with 1087 points, ahead of Tristan Nunez and Steven Thomas. With 1468 points, Gar Robinson led the LMP3 Drivers' Championship, 96 points ahead of Jon Bennett and Colin Braun. Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 1852 points, 191 points ahead of Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy followed by Cooper MacNeil in third. With 1606 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn, ahead of Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley. Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Aston Martin were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Riley Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Heart of Racing Team each led their own Teams' Championships.
Entries A total 35 cars took part in the event split across five classes. 6 were entered in DPi, 4 in LMP2, 7 in LMP3, 3 in GTLM, and 15 in GTD. Ryan Dalziel substituted for Kyle Tilley in the Era Motorsport entry due to a clash with the NASCAR Cup Series round at Watkins Glen. Jr III Motorsports and Wulver Motorsports made their IMSA SportsCar Championship debuts at this event while Dawson Racing was absent. Dan Goldburg returned to the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry after Mateo Llarena filled in at Watkins Glen. NTE Sport returned after skipping the Lime Rock round.
Practice There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, one on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session on Friday afternoon lasted one hour while the second session on Saturday morning lasted 105 minutes.
Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 6:10 PM CT on Friday and ended with Harry Tincknell topping the charts for Mazda Motorsports, with a lap time of 2:09.769. ClassTeamDriverTime1DPi55Mazda MotorsportsHarry Tincknell2:09.769_2DPi10Konica Minolta AcuraFilipe Albuquerque2:10.168 +0.3993DPi01Cadillac Chip Ganassi RacingKevin Magnussen2:10.577 +0.808Source:
Practice 2 The second and final practice session took place at 9:55 AM CT on Saturday and ended with Ricky Taylor topping the charts for Konica Minolta Acura, with a lap time of 1:49.752. ClassTeamDriverTime1DPi10Konica Minolta AcuraRicky Taylor1:49.752_2DPi31Whelen Engineering RacingFelipe Nasr1:50.411 +0.6593DPi5JDC-Mustang Sampling RacingTristan Vautier1:50.556 +0.804Source:
Qualifying
Qualifying was broken into four sessions. Rain fell and increased as qualifying progressed. The first was for cars in GTD class. Aaron Telitz's No. 14 Lexus was fastest overall, lapping at 2 minutes, 07.195 seconds, beating Trent Hindman's No. 16 Porsche by more than six-tenths of a second. Robby Foley was third in the No. 96 BMW followed by Zacharie Robichon in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche.
The second session was for cars in the GTLM and GTD classes. Jordan Taylor's No. 3 Corvette was 26th overall, and was the fastest GTLM car with a 2 minutes, 20.979 second laps. His teammate Nick Tandy qualified the No. 4 Corvette the GTLM grid's front row and Cooper MacNeil's No. 79 Porsche was third. Laurens Vanthoor set the fastest time in the GTD points paying session and earned 35 championship points.
The third session was for cars in the LMP3 class. Dan Goldburg's No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier was 23rd overall and was the fastest LMP3 car with a 2 minutes, 19.106 seconds lap.
The final session of qualifying was for cars in the DPi and LMP2 classes. Felipe Nasr's No. 31 Cadillac was third overall and would start from began from pole position with a 2 minutes, 7.195 seconds lap. He was seven-tenths clear of Ricky Taylor's No. 10 Acura in second. Kevin Magnussen took third for Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing. Ben Keating's No. 52 Oreca was 22nd overall and was the fastest LMP2 car with a 2 minutes, 18.511 seconds lap. Steven Thomas' No. 11 WIN Autosport Oreca took third and John Farano's No. 8 Tower Motorsport Oreca was third.
Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1 GTD 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Aaron Telitz 2:07.195_212GTD16 Wright Motorsports Trent Hindman2:07.862 +0.667223 DPi 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Felipe Nasr 2:07.919 +0.72414GTD96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley2:07.953 +0.758235GTD9 Pfaff Motorsports Zacharie Robichon2:08.209 +1.014246GTD39 CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing Richard Heistand2:08.341 +1.146257GTD23 Heart Of Racing Team Roman De Angelis2:08.569 +1.374268DPi10 WTR-Konica Minolta Acura Ricky Taylor2:08.677 +1.48229GTD12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Frankie Montecalvo2:08.702 +1.5072710DPi55 Mazda Motorsports Oliver Jarvis2:08.716 +1.521311GTD1 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow2:09.110 +1.9152812DPi01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Kevin Magnussen2:09.194 +1.999413GTD76 Compass Racing Jeff Kingsley2:09.321 +2.1262914GTD32 Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports Shane Lewis2:09.990 +2.7953015GTD88 Team Hardpoint EBM Rob Ferriol2:10.173 +2.9783116GTD66 Gradient Racing Till Bechtolsheimer2:10.263 +3.0683217GTD19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Misha Goikhberg2:10.266 +3.0713318DPi5 JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing Tristan Vautier2:10.497 +3.302519DPi60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Olivier Pla2:10.500 +3.305620GTD44 Magnus Racing with Archangel Motorsports John Potter2:12.194 +4.9993421GTD42 NTE Sport Don Yount2:14.383 +7.1883522 LMP2 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ben Keating 2:18.511 +11.316723 LMP3 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Dan Goldburg 2:19.106 +11.9111124LMP374 Riley Motorsports Gar Robinson2:19.419 +12.2241225LMP211 WIN Autosport Steven Thomas2:19.941 +12.746826 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Jordan Taylor 2:20.979 +13.7841827LMP336 Andretti Autosport Jarett Andretti2:21.170 +13.9751328GTLM4 Corvette Racing Nick Tandy2:21.606 +14.4111929LMP354 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett2:21.885 +14.6901430LMP361 Wulver Motorsports Augie Pabst2:22.170 +14.9751531GTLM79 WeatherTech Racing Cooper MacNeil2:24.174 +14.9792032LMP28 Tower Motorsport By Starworks John Farano2:24.176 +14.981933LMP330 Jr III Motorsports Theodor Olsen2:24.600 +17.4051734LMP391 Riley Motorsports Jim Cox2:25.260 +18.0651735LMP218 Era Motorsport Dwight Merriman2:27.462 +20.26710Sources:
Race
Post-race As a result of winning the race, Derani and Nasr advanced from third to second in the DPi Drivers' Championship. The result kept Keating and Jensen atop the LMP2 Drivers' Championship. The result of the race meant Robinson was still in the lead of the LMP3 Drivers' Championship with 1800 points, but his advantage was reduced to 50 points as a result of Bennett and Braun's victory. The result kept Antonio García and Jordan Taylor atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship. As a result of finishing second place, Auberlen and Foley re took the lead of the GTD Drivers' Championship from De Angelis and Gunn. Robichon and Vanthoor advanced from fourth to third while Sellers and Snow dropped from third to fourth. Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Aston Martin continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Riley Motorsports, and Corvette Racing kept their respective advantages in their respective Teams' Championships. Turner Motorsport took the lead of the GTD Teams' Championship with four rounds remaining in the season.
Race results Class winners are denoted in bold and .